Early Access-spill

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

Hva utviklerne har å si:

Hvorfor Early Access?

“Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps has been brought to the Steam Early Access program by its development team at Max Gaming Technologies, LLC. in order to enable fans of this genre to have the greatest influence possible on the title’s development.

We are all mech fans here at Max Gaming Technologies, LLC., so we know how passionate many of you are about wanting a great Mech combat experience. As such we want to ensure that each of our supporters has the opportunity to help influence the game's development as much as possible. Not to just refine and tweak the experience, but to make it more Mech smashing bad-ass with each and every release!

”

Hvor lenge antas det at dette spillet vil være i Early Access?

“Our goal is to have Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps completed some time in 2015. However with this said, this is just an estimate and is entirely dependent upon just how awesome you guys are at supporting the game while it is in Early Access through your purchase of the game and with the fantastic feedback that we know you the community want to give.

“The initial Early Access version of the game contains much of the core combat game play for Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps. The initial Early Access version of the game will launch with a handful of missions and game types, the ability to play on and offline, and will contain the starter Mechs for each class along with a variety of weapons and equipment to customize each Mech with.

As we develop thru Early Access our goal is to iteratively enhance the game towards the full release content plans, which will include many additional Mechs, weapons, updated graphics and animations, game play modes and features and our full vision of the persistent online battle engine called "Faction Wars".

Faction Wars will be an online representation of the Dark Horizons Universe with a persistent war map where player driven squads and factions will play to capture territory, gain in-game bonuses and fight for superiority. Features will include large map battles, small recon and raid type battles, arena competitions and allow players to earn in-game credits to build out their Mechs.

The full version will also have a full set of support for many popular Steam features including a full set of stats, leaderboards, achievements, full controller support, Big Picture support and SteamOS. Again, many of these features will be available as they are integrated during Early Access.

”

Hva er nåværende tilstand på Early Access-versjonen?

“While Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps is currently in “Alpha”, core functionality is implemented and playable. However, players should expect bugs, possible crashes, game play balancing tweaks, frequent updates and an enjoyable game experience while helping influence development.

Current feature include but are not limited to:

4 Mech Classes

35 different weapons an equipment

Full Mech customization

2 playable levels

3 game play models (Attrition, Free For All, Mini-Nuke)

Online and offline game support

We recommend that you not buy or play the game during Early Access unless you clearly understand what Early Access is and are interested in helping improve the game during its development.

”

Vil spillet være priset annerledes under og etter Early Access?

“Please note that the Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps will likely be in “Early Adopter” status until some time in 2015, as such our current pricing has been set to reflect its ‘in early development’ nature.

As we reach new milestones, you may see the price of the game increase to reflect this new content. As an early adopter of the Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps you will be entitled to all future updates (including DLC) for free.

”

Hvordan planlegger dere å involvere samfunnet i utviklingsprosessen?

“While Dark Horizons : Mechanized Corps is in Early Access we will be capturing anonymous analytics data and interacting as closely as we can to community here on Steam. While we have a big list of things we want to accomplish with this game, we know that what is most important is ensuring that we fine tune, enhance and provide new content that will help make the game experience right at every stage possible.

We want to recapture what helped make our first mech title Dark Horizons Lore : Invasion both a 2005 IGF finalist and a cult classic by making the game more than just something you kill time in, but by making it an experience that you partake in and feel a part of as the game changes and adapts via the Faction Wars feature as it happens. As such your involvement in the game and its community is critical towards what the final outcome of the game will be.

3. mars

We have released an update to the DHMC, though you can expect another one in the next week or so this patch fixes some bugs in the previous patch, along with adds some more Faction Wars functionality (FW).

Here is the detail:

NEW FEATURES:

-Faction Wars Update 1 Phase Features:

Squads can now promote and remove members from their squad.

-Faction Wars Update 2 Phase Features:

You can now change your faction from Overload Mercenaries Guild to Eastern Confederation or Federated States.

If you create a squad it will make the squad's faction the faction you were using at time of creation. Once you are in a squad you have to be the squad's faction. When you join a squad it will automatically switch your faction to the squad's faction. The Squad owner can change the faction which will change everyone in the squads faction to the new squad faction. Currently the factions do not affect gameplay but this will be in the next patch.

-Factions Tab now shows info on all 3 factions currently in the game.

UPDATES and BUG FIXES

-Flak cannon has be updated to be top mount only, reduced direct/splash damage and updated battle points cost.
-Nuclear Fusion Cannon has splash damage removed and battle points cost updated.
-Larb and Sniper Rifle also have had their Battle Points cost updated.
-Fixed a bug that was causing some shadows to disappear at angles.
-Fixed bug causing Squad Stats to not display.

NOTE: more weapons balancing will occur in the next couple patchs as we tweak the new weapons and add in new equipment.

10. februar

Over the last few weeks we have been working on several different areas of the game. and while we are working to get a stable patch we wanted to share them with you.

Engine update status

As we dug deep into some performance issues on Windows and Linux we looked at the latest updates for our game engine to help resolve some of these problems (as well as provide new features). As such we made the decision that for the past few weeks, our programming team would put some new features on hold so we could do a major update that will benefit everyone.

While this meant that we were not able to put out updates to features like Faction Wars as quickly as we had initially hoped, the good news is that most of the issues that had been blocking updates are now resolved! So we should have a patch up soon.

Art Updates

While our programming team has been tackling this engine upgrade and performance issues the rest of the team has been hard at work in several other areas.

One of the most significant updates has been with updating the weapons and mechs that are currently in the game with more detailed geometry and textures. Though we are only part way thru these visual updates, we will be integrating this new content as we complete it. Here are a few shots including a updated Viper mech with new mesh detail, texturing, and a sampling of some of the weapon updates we have done.

Mech chassis updates

The art team has spent some time looking at the current mech chassis and starting adding more detail into the geometry and in the texturing. The Viper chassis (being the first mech that we made for the game) is the first to get a makeover.

New weapons textures

Below you see the latest Viper chassis with an assortment of the updated weapons models.
Is that a new hanger you see in the background? Why yes it is!

Weapons balancing updates

We have been lucky enough over the last couple months to be able to collect more data around the weapons and also see how different players outfit their mechs. During this time we have found some imbalance issues and have been working on updating all weapons to better fit their designed functionality.

Though not all weapons will change, we have touched about 70% of the values, with that we will be posted a detail of the changes once they are live. Why? Because any current configuration will likely be affected.

We have also added in some chassis specific power plants so configurations can get the custom power and system specifications it needs.

Faction Wars

Though not in the immediate upcoming patch, more Faction Wars functionality is coming very soon with the ability for individuals and squads to join Factions and the Faction interface to include initial functionality.

We will be holding a mock war event in a few weeks which we will post soon including the dates for the event!

Linux and SteamOS

Now that the engine upgrade is completed we can now finish the Linux/SteamOS client port. The initial release of the Linux client will be very early alpha, but with the new engine upgrade we have improved performance a good bit. For more info on the port please visit this forum post:

We want to thank everyone whom has shown their support for the game, and to help celebrate you, we are going to start looking thru posted screenshots and then share our favorites on the forums. The team would especially like to thank Sophisanimus for his extensive thoughts on the weapon balancing and of course dedication to the game. Thanks again, and we hope to continue to earn your support.

Om dette spillet

WARNING: THIS GAME IS CURRENTLY IN EARLY ACCESS AND IS CONSIDERED IN ALPHA. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A GAME, PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE THIS ITEM. YOU WILL EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE BUGS, GAME RE-BALANCING AND PERSISTENT STAT RESETS DURING THE DEVELOPMENT PERIOD OF THIS GAME.

In the year 2210, fifty years after the start of the machine wars, the battle mech is the premier weapon of war. Standing over 35 feet tall and weighing up to 40 tons, these hulking behemoths are walking arsenals of firepower and armor that have no other rival in a theatre of war. As part of your factions Mechanized Corps, you will need to utilize your intellect to custom configure battle mechs that suits both your play style and the mission parameters as well as hone your skills and cunning as a pilot to survive

Play on your own or join the action online in a persistent warzone called “Faction Wars” that enables you to not only fight for domination over mission zones to earn unique unlocks and achievements, but also create and manage squadrons, and tracks player and squadron stats.

Customize multiple mechs to suit different styles of play or mission types. Choose from 4 different mech classes, 35 different weapons and pieces of equipment, custom paint styles and colors and more. You can employ any of these saved configurations in-game as you play.

Play any mission offline versus bots, in instant action mode.

Or get into the action online against up to 16 other players (per mission)! NOTE: 32 players being worked on.

Earn stats for leaderboards and achievement unlocks in a persistent game environment.

Massive mission environments, with 2-3 zones at launch of early access.

3 games modes including Attrition, Free for All, and Mini-nuke.

NOTE: The Faction Wars system is currently still in development, but out first order of business after EA launch is to work on getting the persistent stats feeding into the online war map system.

Features that are in development

Create or join a squad and fight together to take control of various mission zones online.

32 players for online missions.

Addition of dozens of new and unique weapons and equipment to configure your mech with.

More mechs for each class, providing additional unique configuration options to try out.

Faction Wars, the persistent online war component will be implemented on a ongoing basis with features like:

Variable spawn points per mission based on which faction has control over that mission online and other factors.

This game is very rough. No tutorial that I could find, and although there is a bot option in Instant Action, other players do join pretty quick. I guess just check the key bindings and figure it out. It's not too bad of a learning curve.

The game plays pretty good. The lightmechs are real fast, the heavy mechs slow, though with 3rd person view only (for now - develepers stated working on cockpit view) and crazy jump jets it sometimes feels like you're piloting a figurine on a tabletop not a multi ton mech. It has some large, wide open levels and I've had some pretty intense battles.

There is a decent selection of pre made Mechs, some you'll even reckognize form Battletech or Mechwarrior. They all have different capabilities and the developrs have done a good job making some feel and handle very different, some refinement is needed.

The graphics are right now fairly rough but I expect texture updates eventually.

All in all, if you're looking for arcade type combat in mechs try it out, I imagine after some updates the controls might turn a bit more.....realisitic? Is that possible in a fictional game? Anyway, hopefully you get what I'm trying to say.

If you love giant mech games and know what buying early aceess can mean and the risks involved (such as games never being finished or taking radical turns and not being the same game you bought) then I recommend it, as it's on sale (or was) and 5$ is decent to support the developrs.

If not a huge fun but a moderate fan, or missed the sale, it might be worth waiting to see the game in a more polished state before decding to support it or not, and you might get another sale in the meantime.

The game is, so far at least, headed in the right direction. Its fun to hop in blow stuff up with big stompy action, then revisit your designs in the hangar. Even though it still has a long way to go i recommend this game if you like mechswarrior or the earlier armored core games.

Dark Horizons is back and now you can make your mech yours. There's four chassis on which you can load weapons, armour and tools, from really light scout-like vehicles that are hard to hit to slow, lumbering hulks bristling with hurt and thick armour.The style is very different to Lore, being less twitch and more tactics, but you can tell they're both Dark Horizons games. As such, running alone is a much bigger risk than it was in Lore, so take some friends with you.

Fun, Fast-Past, and really easy to get into.Even as an early access it is addictive, running around in Big Stomp-Stomp and running into enemy hordes and commiting suicide, Not only that but ALL players (Atleast right now) are even, you don't have to grind for ten weeks to unlock a mech, they are all already unlocked, and you can add whatever you want to it, as long as your mech can handle it and it is within the mech's Battlepoint range. Anway, currently there is a little bit of customization, and big explosions. Would buy again.

I like it thus far. Has a ton of potential. I recommend it to any disgruntled MWO pilots.

Pros: AI bots to fill in for humansMore interesting game modes than MWO (deliver a bomb to enemy base and destroy it, for example)Some modes have respawn, others do not, its player choice"Faction Wars" (Community warfare) planned will likely be out before MWO at this rateCustomizable mechs, working mechbay with 360 view. free paints and cosmeticsMore weapons than BT/ MWOTime to Kill is much higher than MWO, leading to more interesting combatHeat and weapon management system forces players to fire weapons in groupsAbility to play on and offlineAs an early adopter you will be entitled to all future updates (including DLC) for free.

I thought the game played solid. Plenty of Mech variations and weapons. I had no problem climbing in and doing battle. The missions are well made and full featured, and the bots play well. Not bad for early access. I'm sure they'll be adding stuff and tweaking the hell out of it in the coming months. I'm looking forward to when we can form squads and track stats and have an effect on the war. Then this game will become really great.

This is one of the most 'solid' EA release I have ever played. If you are looking for a solid Mechwarrior-like combat, this game can give you that. There are things that need polishing. However, the downside is that you can hardly find people to play with due to the soft launch. Devs are fixing things and will do a proper launch soon.

To top it off, it is a Team vs Team, heavy mech combat. You cannot skate around super fast and do crazy manuever like Armored Cored's mech. Your mech is basically a tank with legs, so no fancy movements.

You build your mech from several chasis(will be adding in the future updates), put on the weapons and equipments. To balance the fight smaller chasis is faster, but less armor, and carry lighter equipments. Bigger chasis is slower, but tougher, more armomr, heavier weapons, however, loadout comes down to the battle points, you cannot just put anything in there, it is limited by battle points for each mech, and different mech will have different points.

The combat itself is fun, especially with another player. There is AI support for both single and multiplayer match, but it is not that smart, however, they do there jobs well, especially when they are with players. Combat will be tactical to certain points that you need to manage your weapons, you can fire all weapons at once or as a selective group, which can be set in the hangar. Weapons have its effective range, some can easily overload your system, and some weapons' projectile do travel the distance, so they can be dodged.

There may be claims that it takes too long to take down a mech, which is not true if you know what you are doing. Your mech (as of the current build) has 3 parts, torso, and 2 legs, and around 7-8 additional parts depending on your loadout. These parts have their own HP, so if you just shoot at every part, not just particular part. It will take a while to take down a mech. Mechs can be take-down by destroying their bodies, or both of their legs.

old:Nice and Solid Gameplay despite the EA release, but the Soft Launch is killing it slowly.

If you are expecting to get a polished Mech game up front with a large server population, please do not buy this game, watch it with interest but do not buy.

If you want to help participate in helping to flesh out and test a fun Mech combat game this might be for you.

For much less then I blow on a meal, I bought access into this game figuring I would just wait and see. I have found playing just a short while that I can see some potential in this game. Being in an Australian timezone I feel it will be a long time before I can play online with the dedicated servers due to ping and player numbers, so I am restricted to Single player. However the beauty of this game is if I can get enough friends interested, I can run my own dedicated server.

The fact this game even has that mode is GREAT, it adds much more variety & options then the drudgery that is playing MWO, or Hawken.

"SO FAR" the devs are showing interest in the community feedback so far which is great, if they can keep that up, that will help them a long way.

The graphics aren't phenomal, though respectable, the gameplay mechanics work, though do need a lot of work, and the devs are stated that is part of their plan which is good. The overall Vision the developers have for this game is very good, its just a matter of whether they are able to get there.

If you just consider this a Speccie stock purchase, and play a bit now and then and provide feedback it will hopefully help the Devs get this game to where they want.

As a Starsiege fan I have to say that I was pretty surprised at what I got for an early access game. The game just went live today but already you can see a lot of cool things happening in regards to giving you that stompy mech experiance that has been missing all these years. It's also really nice that there are both online and offline options so you can play against other players or try out different mech configs on your own. So overall while its a bit rough around the edges, so far so good :)

Dark Horizons looks and feels like classic Mechwarrior, one week into alpha and there isn't much in the game (4 mechs , 2 maps, 3 game mods, multiplayer and instant action) but! the game has a lot of potential. if your an old Mechwarrior or Heavy gear fan I would give this one a shot you won't be disappointed.

Early Access so there's obviously some bugs still. Considering that, this game is still pretty strong and well done. Especially at this early alpha phase. I'm a huge fan of the game so far and can't wait to get into more battles.Learning the weapons so far is the trickiest bit, and building your own loadouts. As this game develops it's definitely one to keep an eye on. See you next Thursday!

Not a ton of content and a lack of a tutorial (or at least, I didn't find one) but it's in EA so that's most likely going to be fixed. As far as the gameplay goes, so far it's amazing. My only issue with it is the lack of an explanation of what stuff is. I want to have a mech with those beam weapon things... but I have no idea what they are called T.T Like most EA games I have reviewed so far I'm going to say this game is worth the investment. Maybe you will not like the alpha because of it's lack of content and tutorials, but it's only going to be getting better.

Update: Newest update fixed the issue I was having with finding lazers :D Safe to say that the game is much better already and I can't wait to see what the next update will add!

If you loved the Mechwarrior 3 & 4 series, you"ll love this one. And the bases are just like the one in Mechcommander with repair bays and capturable. For an alpha release this is pretty stable and has enough features to keep gameplay interesting. Heartily recommended :)

So far im actually impressed a lot of work still ot be done espically with the mech movement seems a bit jerky but on a whole very impressed bought it for myself and my Brother and so far were both impressed, cant wait to see what comes next.

Mech games in general are very niche these days. There are a ton of dev sponsored events but they usually have quite a few players and the one i was able to make it to was extremely fun. Expecting ea games that are niche to have large playerbases is a false perception that is probably influenced by ea titles like dayz or rust that have very large playerbases skewing the fact most ea games just dont draw that many people no matter how good they are. these are mostly indie devs without large marketing budgets.

This game has the framework to be great. There are, in my opinion, certain mechanics missing that would make the game more dynamic and fun, i.e. rocketjumping on the ground, so like ac3 being able to boost for a short time to gain some speed and be a dodging mechanic all in one. The sniper rifles and long range weapons are a great start to make this game go in the direction the devs seem to want (from my experience so far) as a more militaristic, average pased mech game relying on positioning, aim, and teamwork.

Not to mention, the devs on this game, unlike many many ea titles, actually listen to and respond to the playerbase. I mean the real intention of ea is to help developers develop and finish the game youre purchasing....right? Ive mentioned a few ideas to the devs so far, and i wont say I had anything to do with them adding it in, but for example the long range weapons i suggested a few months ago, well guess what? They put it in the game! And its a really great addition. In my opinion this factor alone makes this game well worth a measly fifteen dollars.

This game will grow over time, with the cockpit views, more and more weapons and mech types, more customization of the mechs themselves, better ai, better graphics (already looking really sharp with the shader changes), and of course, the soon to be redmund favorite of faction wars. I havent been this excited for the future of an ea title in a long time.

Sure there arent many people in servers very often, but I mean Im not sure what youd expect from an ea game like this. Plus the devs come from a background of writing backends for netcode of games with other studios (i might be wrong on the terminology) gives me great confidence that MP play will be stable and lag/choke free in the future, especially when your faction might lose their last territory from a missle lagging and winning someone a match.

The game its self is decent but the way you controll it is terrible, you throttle its speed to walk and steer it but its hard to make complete stops. The combat is sluggish, yet it does have a certain charm to it. not a great mech assult sucessor but does a good job simulating a skirmish. Do i feel i got my money's worth? no. either wait til its on sale, or see if it gets more content added. Didnt mention that yet did i? it has few game modes, few maps, and a decent selection of customization options. If it sounds like your cup of tea, wait til its on sale. if you arent a huge mech fan, spend your money on lunch or something.